The cheapest route through Level 4?

PhillipP

I am interested to know what is the cheapest possible route to take in order to gain the AAT Level 4 Dpiloma in Accounting.

I have purchased the Preparing and Using Budgets tutorial from Osborne at £14.70 and presuming that this would be the minimum spend on study materials for the Budgeting unit I was wondering how much more I would need to pay for the rest of this unit and for Level 4 as a whole. My AAT membership is payed up to June 2014 so there's no additional outlay there.

Would be interested to know from other self-studiers their experiences of costs: books and exams etc.

SandyHood

Dear PhilipP
I think your question is important. It is something a lot of candidates want to know.
I don't know the answer but I hope the person who started this thread can help:
http://forums.aat.org.uk/forum/for-s...e-way-all-done

Now that the exams are manageable through hardwork and thorough self-study I don't consider taught courses are needed for a lot of candidates.
But the colleges control the exams, and in particular the learnplus exams such as Spreadsheets at level 3 and the Project at level 4.

This forum has a tremendous opportunity in providing information and examples of candidate experiences of specific venues where self-studying students have gone to take their exams.
Perhaps there is a "trip advisor" role that the forum here could provide in terms advising about colleges where external candidates can sit exams and how well candidates have been treated.

CeeJaySix

Philip, there's no precise answer as different centres charge different amounts for exams, and different learning providers charge different amounts for the modules you need them for (ICAS at level 4). My centre charges £70 plus VAT for exams (Pitman Training) which from others' experience seems to be a little at the high end. So say books at £20 a module plus exams at say £70 per module, then ICAS which from memory will set you back around £200 as a standalone unit = £650 would be a ballpark figure. I'd be surprised if you can do it for much less than that unless anyone knows of a cheap way to get your ICAS marked. Still not bad when you think that even the cheapest providers want £650 for the whole level excluding exams, which in themselves amount to another £350ish.